Yindee ton rap

That's Thai for Welcome to Thailand. After a nine hour flight, we made it to the Land of Smiles! Renee, another Polie friend, met us in Sydney and will be our traveling companion for the rest of the trip. Here she is taking a picture of her first brekkie in Asia. She still went for the eggs option.

Being accustomed to the milder climates in Australia and New Zealand, we all immediately began wilting from the heat and humidity and quickly discovered where to get a quick fix of air con (7-11's, which are all over the place).

On our first day, we wandered the crowded streets and sidewalks of the infamous Khao San Road area. This is a loved and hated tourist area, swarming with backpackers and tourists of all sorts plus all of the locals, many of whom are trying to sell you a custom tailored suit or tuk tuk tour.

Vendors set up stalls in every open inch of side walk selling clothing, handbags, souvenirs, trinkets, bootleg CD and DVDs, just about anything that you could want. These pseudo hill tribe women are trying to convince Brien that he really needs a little wooden frog. And yes, he bought it for 80 baht (just over 2 bucks).

There are also loads of restaurants, bars, and food vendors and for someone who really adores Thai food, this is pretty close to heaven.

Yesterday was Renee's birthday and she most wanted to drink pina coladas for her special day, so that's what we did. Another Polie friend Michael also happened to fly into Bangkok on the same day so we dragged him along too.

Nice to have friends in the Land of Smiles!